Watson's Woes July 2019
by Pompey
Summary: Answering daily challenges from Dreamwidth's comm Watson's Woes. This is an annual event in which we whump all incarnations of Dr. Watson in all ways imaginable for the entire month of July. Stories are of varying lengths, universes, and levels of dark. The "T" rating is for safety though most stories here are gen.
1. July 1 - Priorities

Title: Priorities

Author: Pompey

Universe: late-era ACD

Warnings: mentions of Edwardian terrorism

Word count: 100

Summary: Sherlock is a detective, Mycroft is a politician, and Watson is a doctor.

Author's note: The Clerkenwell Prison explosion occurred in 1867; IRB members had tried to free another member from the prison by using a barrel of gunpowder. (It didn't end well.)

Prompt: July 1 – explosion

* * *

"The boots, the cigar end, the barrels, the location – it all points to the Irish Republican Brotherhood," Holmes concluded.

Mycroft nodded and sighed heavily. "It is the Clerkenwell explosion all over again. Why these Fenians feel such violence is the way to obtain Home Rule I cannot understand. Irish relations are strained enough as it is and this will only make things worse. Sherlock, you must find them before they can cause any more intranational damage."

"And before any more lives are lost," Watson added tightly, the bloody images of the most recent bombing victims still fresh in his mind.


	2. July 2 - Blood

Title: Blood

Author: Pompey

Universe: late-era ACD

Rating: PG

Warnings: blood-related ickiness

Word count: 100

Summary: Ernest Hemingway was an ambulance driver during WWI. He meets a certain doctor in the field.

A/N: I'm not very good at imitating Hemingway but he's as different from Doyle's flowing Victorian phrases as I could get.

Prompt: July 2 – in the style of another author

* * *

Sun-baked blood doesn't smell like copper. Copper has a cleaner smell. Sun-baked blood reeks of old meat. Perhaps that was all that he carried now in his ambulance. Not men. Old meat.

The doctor was old himself. Gray, mustached, British in efficiency. In short order the men were unloaded onto the cots and being tended to. He turned to leave.

"I need another set of hands here," the doctor said, looking directly at him.

He turned back and held down the soldier's leg. The doctor ignored the soldier's screams and removed the shrapnel. New blood poured out onto the old.

* * *

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	3. July 3 - Summer Heat

Title: Summer Heat

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 100

Summary: Holmes hates summer heat. It has to be pretty bad to bother Watson though.

Prompt: July 3 – bloody weather

* * *

Holmes knew Watson strove to keep his complaints about winter cold to a minimum. During the summer months, Holmes tried to follow his example. He sealed his lips against grumbles, no matter how beastly the temperature became or how unbearable the humidity. Sometimes it was a taste of torture when it felt like his flesh could melt right off his bones while Watson sat and read, completely at ease.

He knew his complaints were justified, however, when Watson, clad in a light linen suit, pulled the curtains closed against the sun's glare and said mildly, "heat's a bit fierce today."

* * *

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	4. July 4 - Breaking Point

Title: Breaking Point

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD (meta)

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 150

Summary: Sometimes an issue is big enough to end an old partnership.

A/N: "Land of Mist" was published in 1926. "Case-book of Sherlock Holmes" was published in 1927.

Prompt: July 4 – Nothing so good as a good book

* * *

I sighed as I read the title and author name on the newly published book. I knew Doyle had become inveigled in Spiritualism more deeply since the death of Kingsley during the Great War. I couldn't fault a grieving father for wishing to contact his dead son, but this was beyond the pale.

I knew for a fact that Professor George Challenger remained staunchly opposed to Spiritualism, that he had no daughter, and that Jessica Challenger was still alive although rather frail. In short, everything in "The Land of Mist" was nothing but lies for the sake of propaganda. I couldn't believe Doyle would do such a thing until the proof was before my eyes.

The contract we had required six more stories from me. Breaking it might generate publicity for this pack of lies and that I refused to do. Best to fulfill the contract and quietly end things.

* * *

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	5. July 5 - Haunted

Title: Haunted

Author: Pompey

Universe: BBC Sherlock (during Hiatus)

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

Word count: 221

Summary: Some places don't need ghosts to be haunted, just memories.

Prompt: July 5 – photo prompt (dark path)

* * *

John was no stranger to flashbacks. He'd already had more than his fair share of them and though you never got used to them, you learned your triggers. You avoided them when you could and braced yourself when you couldn't.

The thing was, you never knew what would be a trigger until it . . . well, triggered you. That was why John was walking that park path at night, why he innocently he looked ahead and saw the exact same view as that time when –

_he and Sherlock are walking side by side through the park lights, passing through shadows in a regular pattern. They talk about the case they – Sherlock – has just solved. Sherlock says, "Who better than a marine biologist to use jellyfish venom as a murder weapon? And how better to make it look like a jellyfish attack than using a flagellate?" John grins and replies, "You know that's brilliant, right?" Sherlock scoffs but he's smiling too and says, "It was really rather obvious, John."_

His mobile dinged with a new text from Mycroft: Anything wrong? MH

John texted back: "no."

You have been staring at nothing for nearly ten minutes. MH

John replied with "I'm fine" and resumed walking. What was one more trigger to add to the collection? Just file this park path under "Bereavement."

* * *

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	6. July 6 - Smash

Title: Smash

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count:

Summary: Watson's patience isn't really limitless; he just has self-control made of iron.

A/N: If anyone has heard that story about the writer and the dishes, please let me know. I want to say it was Victor Hugo but I'm just not sure.

Prompt: July 6 – broken glass

* * *

Watson had heard of a novelist who celebrated the completion of a manuscript by having his family shatter all the household's dishes. While Mrs. Hudson would take strong offense to activities, Watson understood the desire to celebrate putting the last fullstop on the page.

However, Watson also understood the desire to smash some glassware in a most ostentatious way. He felt it every time Holmes sneered at his writings and belittled his efforts to share Holmes's methods with the world. Sending the delicate pipettes and fragile beakers flying into thousands of shards with one mighty crash would be most satisfying.

* * *

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